september 2005

The Przewalski , a symbol of preservation of the species

When the employees of the Brno in August 2005 added another species to our zoo’s collection of Equus ca- ballus, they mainly wanted to emphasize and remind us of the role that zoological gardens play in nature preservation. The new exhibit can clearly strengthen the effect of education on our visitors; this taxon has become the symbol of preservation of an endangered species by zoological gardens. Forefathers of domesticated The Przewalski horse was described by zoologist I.S.Poljakov in 1881 as an independent species – Equus Przewalski. This taxonomy is confirmed by later discovery of the fact that the Przewalski horse has more chromo- Legendary Vaska was the first stallion of Przewalski horse captured in the wild, in the studbook of the species somes than the domesticated horse. On the other hand, he has number one. He is also the only Przewalski horse which was ridden by people. He arrived in Askania breeding the domesticated horse and Przewalski horse Nova, where this picture was taken in 1904. can be successful and its offspring can procreate. That is another reason why international organizations today clas- children, which is very popular and widely watched. However, of Takhin Sar Nuruu, a herd of 10 wild horses was seen. sify the Przewalski horse as a subspecies of the ancestral the Przewalski horse survived mainly by human settlement The last sightings were reported in 1967 at the Edrengin wild horses – Equus ferus przewalski. of a small population of their biotope, although eventually foothills and in 1968 near Chalzan Mountain. Since then, The Przewalski horse, called takhi or kertag in its its time came as well. And so the last sightings of the Prze- there have been several expeditions to these regions, but native tongue, lived in ancestral times mainly in walski horse in the wild is dated around the 1960s, most with no success; so by the criteria of IUCN, the Przewalski and China; roughly 5000 years ago, it took part with other horse was declared as extinct in the wild even though some subspecies in the creation of the domesticated horse. Dif- Chinese scientists argued otherwise. ferent breeds came from the kertag, but they were mostly primitive local breeds, with a smaller frame, robust, with History of catching large heavy head, but even-tempered, tough and tireless Mysteries, the Przewalski horses (the Kirghiz horse, the Mongolian horse). Although the discovery and description of the Prze- From the other subspecies of the forefathers of the do- Errors walski horse – made by I.S.Poljakov on the basis of the mesticated horse, we have to mention the , the so-called discovery by N.M.Przewalski – caused a stir in the scientific oriental or eastern horse (Equus ferus gmelini). Its part in the world in 1881, the inaccessibility of central Asian steppes creation of the domestic horse was greatest; today there are and Attractions made an expedition impossible. It was not until 1889-1890 about 150 breeds in existence which are tied to the tarpan, and that a special expedition after the Przewalski horse was we can say that horses used in sports, and the organized under the leadership of Russian naturalist broth- like exist mostly thanks to this predecessor. Another subspe- probably though in 1968, when the last eight specimens ers Grum-Grzimajl. They were the first Europeans that cies that helped with the creation of cold-blooded horses was was seen in an area of today’s Takhin Tal in the central managed to see the wild horses and to hunt them. Equus ferus robustus, the so-called western horse. And finally part of the Gobi B National Park. This part of southwestern Live Przewalski horses got to for the first time in the fourth group of domestic horses – mainly the Shetland Mongolia is also named the Djungarian Gobi Desert, and 1900; N.I.Assanov brought four mares from Mongolia to an pony, fjord horse, Welsh horse and others – evolved from the in the 20th century it was the main region of presence of acclimatization station at the Askania Nova Zoo in southern northern kind of horses (Equus gracilis). the Przewalski horse. Ukraine, which belonged to Baron F.E. von Falz-Fein. Animals Some scientists are certain that the main reason un- captured in the prior year wintered on the way to Askania on an The story of the last derlying the disappearance of Przewalski horses was the estate owned by Assanov in a city of Bijsk in the Altaian republic. Let’s get back to the Przewalski horse. This subspecies development of pasturage which cut the horses off from their Assanov had already traveled to the wild horses in 1898 and of wild horse has survived to the 20th century also thanks water source in the Djungarian Gobi. At the end of the1950s, managed to capture four adult males and eight foals. The hunt- to the way of life of the Mongols. Inhabitants of Mongolia the number of Przewalski horses in the wild was estimated ers killed the mares to facilitate the capture of the foals. The even today regard both wild and domesticated horses as at 40 specimens. In border regions of Mongolia lived two foals were captured alive, however, they died of hives shortly a national treasure and part of their cultural heritage. Rid- herds. In 1964 fifteen horses were sighted in the Ulan Silin after being fed sheep’s milk. The four adults died because they ing a horse is one of the skills they learn very early in their Cholaj Valley. In 1965 the zoological department of Ulanba- could not adapt to captivity and the difficult transport. Assanov childhood. For example, there is an annual horse race for tor Museum received a message that on the northern slopes organized other transports as well, and those arrived in Askania special supplement of Zooreport ZOO REPORT PROFI 1 was moved to the Zoo, where they had another foal. In 1933 Ali died and was replaced by the stallion “Horymir” from Washington. The newly established pair became the base for breeding wild horses at the Prague Zoo. A number of wild horses remained the same during the first 30 years of the 20th century. Newly born foals were simply replacing specimens that died and there were around 30 wild horses living in captivity. In the 1930s the numbers slightly increased to about 50 specimens -- only to fall back down during the Second World War. Since the 1950s the numbers started to climb mainly because many scientists and naturalists started to realize the critical situation of this species. They started to concentrate on the reproduction of Przewalski horses and their protection in captivity (ex situ). In this context in 1959 an international symposium was organized for the preservation of the Przewalski horse. As the most successful breeder, the Prague Zoo was entrusted with organizing it. The specialists at the symposium charged the Prague Zoo with keeping the international studbook of the Przewalski horse, which was created the following year in 1960 as the second oldest breeding book of a wild animal. Przewalski horse holotype. Hide and the skull were sent in 1879 by N. M. Przewalski to a Zoological museum For the next thirty years this studbook was kept by Jiří Volf. in Saint Petersburg. Thanks to internationally coordinated work, the numbers of wild horses in captivity started to rise, so for example in 1975 almost 60 zoological gardens around the world had about 250 specimens of the Przewalski horse. After 1990 the numbers reached 1000 specimens and toward the end of the 1990s, there were more than 1600 wild horses. That is when the growth of the population started to slow down and quality and genetic management started to take over. In 1991 the third edition of the general studbook was released. It contains information about almost 2000 Przew- alski horses. The fast growth of this population brings its first complications. The capacity of breeding stations is no longer adequate; the largest breeders are starting to build auxiliary stations and move extra specimens into other institutions. One of the largest breeders in the world, the Ukrain- ian station of Askania Nova had a serious problem. Due to inconsistencies in the identification of specimens and large herds with several stallions on wide pastures, the origin of some of the specimens was unknown. Problems with mistakes and mismatches, even with those horses meant Foals in the first Hagenbeck´s transport in Zoo, January 1902 for export, were causing trouble. For these reasons an international group of specialists was organized to use Nova in 1902 and 1903. Aside from these, in February of 1901 Breeding of Przewalski horses DNA testing to reconstruct pedigrees of the Askanian Nova he sent two foals and in 1902 one mare to the Moscow Zoo. in captivity population of wild horses. Inconsistencies in origins of some These imports created a lot of attention among the scientists During the capture of the horses, zoological gardens specimens happened in other parts of the world, however, and the workers at the zoo because it was generally thought in Europe received 54 wild horses. Even out of this, al- never on such a massive scale as in Askania Nova. that this species was already extinct. ready a small number of many specimens died and many A fourth breeding book was released in 1995 with A well-known owner of a firm, whose business others did not reproduce. So all the specimens of the completely reworked information and repaired pedigrees. It was hunting and transporting exotic animals for zoological Przewalski horse, living in captivity today, are offspring of contains all the changes established by the genetic analysis, gardens all over the world, and also an owner of a Hamburg only 13 animals. It is clear that with so few specimens it deaths and transfers and included wild horses kept in zoological garden, Carl Hagenbeck organized an expedition would be impossible in future years to avoid interbreeding. acclimatization stations in China and Mongolia. The book that brought back to Hamburg 28 foals of the wild horses. Assa- Hagenbeck’s transport in 1901 has had the biggest effect shows the complete breeding history since 1899 and lists nov alleged that Hagenbeck bought the foals from him in Bijsk. on breeding Przewalski horses in the world. Out of 28 foals, the names of 2523 specimens. The fifth general breeding It’s known for sure that Hagenbeck bought 11 foals from him in most traveled to England, some to the USA, one foal went book published in 1997 lists 2985 wild horses. 1902. That was the end of the large transports of Przewalski to and several foals went to different parts of . horses to Europe. The last hunting expeditions happened in As for the breeding of wild horses in Czechoslovakia, the Genetic management 1942-1947, the captured specimens stayed in Mongolia; only breeding station of the agricultural university in Halle nad In 1985 as a reaction to the need of an even better one mare named Orlica III went to Askania Nova. Skalou was very important. From here, professor F. Bilek coordination of rearing Przewalski horses, a European In the 1950s due to radically decreasing numbers of wild from the Agricultural University in Prague in 1921 gained Endangered Species Program (EEP) was created for this horses in the wilderness, scientists started showing more interest in a four year old stallion “Ali” and in 1923 a three year old species under the leadership of W. Zimmerman from the active preservation in situ and also the employees of zoological gar- mare “Minka”. The first foals in our country were born to Cologne Zoo. One of the main objectives was to sustain dens moved toward captive breeding programs and slowly worked this pair in 1928-1931 on the school estate in Netluka near the population at its current level, and to choose under- on a plan to reintroduce the Przewalski horse to the wild. Prague and were transported to Munich. In 1932 this pair represented specimens for breeding. A very important

ZOO REPORT PROFI special supplement of Zooreport 2 tool in managing the population has become genetic management, which allows much better strategy plan- ning of breeding in individual breeding centers and leads to a higher quality population and maintenance – not growth – of the wild horses. Most breeders have stopped using the same stallion for the same mares in a herd, and they have started to rotate and exchange the stallions. This way the breeders have stopped producing specimens with identical genetic types and they have started a process of genetic divergence. Another way of population management is the creation of groups of mares. A group of mares without stallions lengthens the generation interval and also stops the production of foals with the same genotype. The 1990s meant a qualitative step in the right direc- tion for the population of Przewalski horses. One of the turning points was the very thorough genetic analysis of the wild horse population carried out by scientists from the USA, Germany and the Ukraine. It helped to explain and solve many problems. One of the new viewpoints looked at the effect of domestic horses on the population of wild horses, both the population of the original wild horses in Mongolia Last Przewalski horse born in the wild which joined the breeding in captivity. Mare Orlica III, captured as and, as an option, the inclusion of some domestic horses a foal in 1947, in picture year 1967 in Askania Nova or horses with domesticated parents in captive breeding. It was discovered that in almost all the genotypes of the wild horses in captivity some genes of the domesticated breeds can be found-- not only well-known genes, for example the fox gene, which causes color variation, but a lot of others. It only confirmed the assumption that in historical times it was normal that freely kept domestic horses in Mongolia were able to join the wild herds. This seemed to be especially true of young mares which joined wild young stallions. The current opinion regarding purebred status of the Przewalski horse is not so strict; it is not necessary to eliminate from breeding all specimens with some domestic horse genes, provided such specimen is otherwise geneti- cally suitable and important for the whole population. Most important is the genetic diversity of the population and the cessation of any more domestic horse genes getting into the population. Three Przewalski horses out of a herd in a Mongolian steppe. Probably a last photograph of a specimen out Successful reintroduction of the original population. Our great success, which is based upon the coor- dinated breeding of Przewalski horses, is currently the The first reintroduction project was created in 1985. and Altai – this area belongs to a region of the original habitat accomplished effort to reintroduce the horses into their The European and North American were supposed of the wild horses. The horses were released into the wild original habitat in Mongolia. The work of many scientists, to participate in the project with the financial support from from the acclimatization station Jimsar in 1991. professionals, workers at zoological gardens, owners of pri- the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) within OSN. The Mongolian government did not want to be vate foundations and patrons who contributed to the renewal The horses were supposed to be transported to acclima- left out. It decided to support a national tradition and of the original population of wild horses is paying off. tization stations in Mongolia and their release into the wild contribute to the preservation of the country’s cultural It is necessary to fulfill many requirements in order to was planned for 1990-1991. This enterprise failed due to heritage and natural riches, so it agreed to cooperate succeed in establishing a viable wild population: instituted an indecisiveness of some breeders and an unprepared and support the return of Przewalski horses to its natural (reintroduced) population must be sufficiently numerous in Mongolian side, especially in choosing possible regions for home in Mongolian lands. Naturalists picked two locations: order to survive attacks of predators, illness and other dangers; the release. After this failure a new plan of reintroduction steppes in the mountain range Hustain Nuruu, located also a sufficiently large genetic diversity must be ensured. in China appeared. Various groups, foundations, and even about 100 km southwest of capital city Ulanbatar, which Places chosen for reintroduction also have to fulfill certain some individuals embraced this project. German business- subsequently gained the status of a national park, and the criteria. For example, to avert hybridization, it is necessary man Christian Oswald and his foundation succeeded in 1987 Takhin Tal desert in the Djungerian Gobi (National Park to prevent the released population to come in contact with and 1988 in collecting nine horses from west European Gobi B), where Przewalski horses were last seen in the domestic horses. Also, it is necessary to secure all dietary zoos and flew them to a breeding station in Urumqui in wild around the 1960s. and other requirements for the released horses. This includes the Chinese province Xin Jiang. A year after the transport Oswald’s foundation transported the first five horses, securing sufficient amounts of drinking water and making sure to Urumqui, Oswald sent Przewalski horses to a breeding chosen from the Askania Nova Zoo, to the acclimatization the predator population in the area is not too large. It is also station for endangered species of Chinese fauna near the station in Takhin Tal on 6th of Juni 1992. By the summer of necessary to collect large amounts of money for the construc- city Wuwei in the province of Gansu. The horses in both 1999, 58 horses out of 14 different parks and zoos were tion of acclimatization stations, for transports, for the caring of stations soon started to have foals. Later, the horses were brought to Takhin Tal. The last transport in July of 2004 the horses after transport to the stations, and for observing moved from Urumqui to 400 km farther; a newly built station from the region of EEP consisted of 18 horses. Altogether and treating the horses after release into the wild. Jimsar, which lay in the Djungarian basin between Tan-san there were 94 horses brought to the region since 1992.

special supplement of Zooreport ZOO REPORT PROFI 3 Novosibirsk Angara RUSSIA Bijsk Jenisej Irkutsk Bajkal Ob

Selenga KAZAKHSTAN

Kobdo Zajsan Ulánbátar Orongo 2 1 MONGOLIA

CHINA Chuang Che

1 – Probable area where I. S. Poljakov killed the horse by which this species was identified – Przewalski horse. 2 – Area from which Przewalski horses were brought to Europe in 1899–1902 by N. I. Assanovem and C. Hagenbeckem. Highlighted is the road they had to travel: from Kobdo to Bijsk on foot, than to Novosibirsk by boat and than by train

Altaj RUSSIA RUSSIA Saja n Seleng KAZAKHSTAN a KAZAKHSTAN Selenga Zajsan Kobdo Khomiin Tal Ulánbátar Zajsan Kobdo MONGOLIA Džungarská Gobi Hustain Nuruu Mong Takhin Tal Tarbagataj Orong olský Altaj Gobi B Jimsar MONGOLIA o Chonin Džungarská Gob Baj Usan Gobi tag Bo go Gobijský Altaj Urumči i Ta chin Šar Gobi a Ažbogd Ťan Šan Anixi Boglu Šan an Taklamak Wuwei Chuang Che

Bei Šan CHINA CHINA

Area of population spred of Przewalski horses on the the break of 19th and 20th Areas of reintroduction of Przewalski horses into the wild in Mongolia and China: Hustain century. Circles – observation of horses 1955–1967. Dot – sighting of the last Nuruu (Hustain Nuruu National Park), Takhin Tal + Gobi B (Great Gobi Reserve), Khomiin Przewalski horse in the wild 1968. Tal (Khar Us Nuur National Park), Jimsar (Xinjian Wild Centre), Anexi (Anexi Gobi Nature reserve), Wuwei (Gansu Endangered Animal Breeding Centre)

The first release into the wild happened in 1997. The first foundation is based in Switzerland’s Oberwil and has bred Netherlands. After two years of acclimatization the horses foals were born in the wild in the Takhin Tal region in 1999. many Przewalski horses; it gave them all to the Takhin in Hustain Nuruu received complete freedom. In 1994, In summer 2005 there were about 100 horses in about Tal project, including the breeding herd. The foundation 1996, 1998 and 2000 conservationists transported an- 10 herds living in the wild in that area. also contributed financially to the transport of horses to other 68 horses to Hustain Nuruu. Today there are about The most promising project in the last few years Mongolia in 1995-1997 and to the construction of the 150 horses living in the area. Together with the hundred is ITG (International Takhi Group), created in 1997 in acclimatization station Takhin Tal. specimens in Takhin Tal, this population gives the species Austria. In addition to Mongolian individuals, the Salz- Sixteen horses were chosen by professionals at the a reasonable chance for a better future. burg Zoo and the Veterinary University in Vienna also Askania Nova Zoo for reintroduction to the second Mon- Ing. Daniel Zeller, Ph.D. hold an important position in this project. ITG manages golian area, Hustain Nuruu. The horses actually arrived reintroductions to Takhin Tal and is trying to continue the a month later there than in Takhin Tal, on 5th July 1992. (Photos from the archive of Jiří Volf are reproduced by work of the Werner Stamm Foundation for the Preserva- It happened thanks to the Foundation for the Preservation his kind permission. The maps are based on literature tion of Endangered Species of the Equid Family. This and Protection of the Przewalski horse (FPPPH) based in data and they were compiled by Bohumil Král.)

ZOO REPORT PROFI special supplement of Zooreport 4